Checking the NOAA SWPC layer.
Aurora forecast
Where might the aurora glow?
Explore the glow in NOAA SWPC’s aurora forecast.
The purple glow shows NOAA OVATION model values above this map’s display threshold. It is a forecast, not a sighting or a promise you will see aurora.
A little sky curiosity
What makes the night glow?
Follow a little energy. Meet a sky full of colour.
An illustrated discovery
A curtain of light, high above Earth
3 · The atmosphere lights up
Those colours belong to the air.
When energetic electrons meet gases in the upper atmosphere, they transfer energy. The gases release some of that energy as light.
Green comes from oxygen. It is the most common aurora colour.
A simplified illustration, with colours and distances exaggerated to help you explore. Real auroras can mix colours, and cameras may show more colour than your eyes. This scene is not a live view or a forecast.
A little more about the science
Solar-wind energy helps accelerate electrons within Earth’s magnetic environment. The electrons travel along magnetic field lines toward the polar upper atmosphere, where collisions make gases glow. Aurora can happen in both hemispheres.
Here you choose one colour to look at. In nature, the gases, their energy states and height all matter; choosing a colour here does not change the real atmosphere.
Learn more: NASA · What is an aurora? · NOAA · Aurora tutorial.
Illustration and interaction by LifeHubber. The explanation draws on NASA and NOAA; the artwork is our own.
Forecast map
Modelled aurora glows
NOAA SWPC glows mark modelled aurora forecast grid points near polar regions. What people actually see depends on many local sky conditions.
Soft glows mark NOAA grid values of 10 or higher. The display is capped at 50 points: it starts with up to 25 of the strongest points from each hemisphere, then fills any remaining places from the strongest points left.
NOAA SWPC layer
Aurora forecast on the map
This page keeps the Aurora forecast layer selected so the map, cards, and guide stay focused on what the NOAA model is showing.
Compare the glows with the forecast time, grid value, and local sky conditions shown in the guide.
Checking forecast grid points shown on the map.
A NOAA grid value when data loads.
NOAA SWPC OVATION model grid.
Forecast cards
Aurora forecast summaries
A quick read of the strongest NOAA values shown here, alongside the forecast time and local conditions that affect what you may see.
Aurora basics
What is an aurora?
Auroras are lights seen near polar regions when activity from the Sun meets Earth's magnetic environment. They tend to gather around high-latitude regions instead of spreading evenly across the whole world.
NOAA SWPC source
What the layer shows
The purple glows come from NOAA SWPC’s forecast grid, near polar regions. This map shows points above its display threshold.
Read the glow as a model area, not an exact location or a confirmed sighting.
Map meaning
Why soft glows instead of pins?
An earthquake report marks a point. Aurora forecasts describe areas, so we use a glow.
How does a forecast differ from an event report?
Reading guide
How to read the purple glows
Location
Glows are placed from NOAA grid latitude and longitude values, so they come from source grid points rather than decoration.
Intensity
Glows mark NOAA grid values of 10 or higher. The map shows no more than 50 points, balancing the strongest northern and southern values before filling any remaining places. Local viewing still depends on the real sky.
Time window
The layer reflects a near-term model forecast window from NOAA SWPC source data.
Sky conditions
Clouds, daylight, local conditions, and your viewing position all affect what you may see beneath a modelled glow area.
Source context
Check the current NOAA forecast
Use this map to compare where NOAA's model places stronger glow areas, then open the NOAA source page for its current forecast and full context.
Earth signals
Another view of Earth?
Return to the Earth map and choose another layer.